WASHINGTON — Al in Gaithersburg writes: “I have a grapevine. This year it was producing many good looking fruits, and I was looking forward to a good harvest, but then the fruits suddenly started turning brown and falling off. I know this year is lost. What should I do to prepare for next year?”
Be prepared to do quite a bit of work, Al. Like fruit trees, the harvest you get from grapevines is directly related to the sweat equity you invest up front.
Specifically, the vines need to be pruned heavily in late winter, and then the new growth needs to be well-trellised so that all portions of the vines are held high up into an area of good airflow all season long. And then in most seasons, you’ll have to remove some of the leaves and clusters of grapes as the vines grow lush to keep that airflow intact.
If your grapes are still good, thin them now
Al in Gaithersburg didn’t realize that growing grapes is a lot of work. Fruits like his — ones that suddenly turn brown or black and fall off — are a common outcome when things get overly crowded, especially when hot and humid weather strikes.
If you have a grapevine that seems really crowded but that has not yet become diseased, go out and remove some of the leaves, especially those directly around the clusters of grapes, to improve the airflow. This is why grape growing regions like Greece and Italy have so many recipes that use grape leaves — they’ve known this secret of natural disease prevention for centuries.
And don’t be afraid to remove some of the grape clusters themselves, especially early in the season. “Thinning” the fruits is often necessary to get really great grapes at harvest time.
When trees fall down and go boom
Kathrin in Hyattsville writes: “Our 100-plus-year-old oak tree was hit by lightning and had to be removed. I had the stump grounded. I now have a huge pile of mulch where the stump used to be. When and how can I use that material?
Stump grinding is cheap, but limits your future options
Well first, I want to discuss your having the workers grind the stump down to below ground level instead of having it pulled out. Grinding is much less expensive than removing the stump, but you have to realize that you now have a giant plug in the ground.
You certainly can’t plant another tree there, and grass will always grow poorly in that area — although nuisance mushrooms will appear in abundance for the next decade or so. Your best option for replanting the area is to build a raised bed that’s at least a foot high over top of the ground-down stump and use the bed to grow some food or flowers in the summer.
What can you do with a big pile of chips?
Kathrin in Hyattsville is still waiting to hear what to do with the huge pile of wood chips left where the stump used to be. “It’s huge!” She writes. “The tree company said to leave it and wait until September to use it in the garden. My city’s arborist said to wait until November or the first frost.”
Curious recommendations, Kath. The best use for such wood chips is to spread them to keep weeds down in the lanes between raised beds. Second best is to pile them up in an out-of-the-way area and let them slowly decompose into compost. Adding a lot of natural nitrogen will move things along faster — coffee grounds are perfect to accelerate the composting of wood and easily available in bulk from any local coffee shop.
But don’t use fresh — or even year-old — wood chips as a mulch close to a home or car. Wood like this breeds a lot of nuisance fungi while it’s decomposing — like house-staining artillery fungus and Triple XXX-rated stinkhorns. And it can rob plant-feeding nitrogen from the plants it surrounds.
But, Kathrin replies: “I have no place to compost! I have this huge pile of chippings and no idea what to do with them!”
Well, that’s a different problem. Luckily, gardeners like myself have the room, and are often willing to do a little extra work to obtain fresh, local, non-dyed wood chips that we can be sure aren’t old pallets, pressure treated wood, construction debris or other chipped-up wood trash.
So put up a sign saying, “Free wood chips for the taking; 100 percent fresh oak.”
I predict the pile will be gone within a week.
